generational gaps - P age |1 Sarah Hall Introduction to...

P a g e | 1 Sarah Hall Introduction to Drama 03.03.2008 Generational Gaps The relationship between the audience and the characters of a story along with that of one character and another are two of the key elements an author has to keep in mind while writing. Things they need to consider are whether or not the audience should relate to the characters, and how well the characters should relate to each other. Should there be a sense of alienation between generations or should the two be able to learn from each other? Playwrights David Lindsay-Abaire, Ntozake Shange, and Sarah Ruhl all have their own answers to these questions and portray them in their own ways in the plays Rabbit Hole , For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When The Rainbow is Enuf , and The Clean House . The Rabbit Hole has numerous generational gaps in the family. For one, there is an age difference between Izzy and her older sister, Becca. Although it is only a few years, it is one where Izzy is stuck in a child-like age and Becca has moved on as an adult. Izzy is the irresponsible younger sister who is pregnant when she is not married. She goes out a lot to clubs and drinks quite a bit. In the beginning of the play, we find out that Izzy got into a bar fight with the girlfriend of her child’s father. Becca, being the more rational of the two, was shocked by Izzy’s story. While Becca sits by as the logical, wiser and more reasonable sister, Izzy is shown as the younger, reckless sibling. The other gap in Rabbit Hole is between the two sisters and their mother, Nat. This difference in age mainly affects Nat and Becca. As it has been said, Becca is a wise, rational woman in her late thirties. Her mother is also very intelligent. Nat has been through a lot of

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P a g e | 2 trauma in the past decade or so, but still holds her head high. The difference between the two gaps is that Becca and Nat are actually on the same page. Both have lost a son and both are mature beyond their years. Their losses have caused them to become tightly-wound, rational women. However, as ironic as it may be, Izzy and Becca seem to have a better relationship than Becca does with Nat. Although the age gaps with Becca between her and Nat and her and Izzy are different, Becca and the audience can learn from both the older and the younger generations. Even though Becca turns her back on Nat when she reaches out, she does learn a little more about how to cope with the loss of her son because of Nat. Also, Izzy may be the rebellious sister, but it seemed to

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